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A dynamic view of seagrass meadows in the wake of successful green turtle conservation

Concerted conservation efforts have led to a remarkable recovery of multiple green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations worldwide. The voracious feeding of these returning populations is radically transforming tropical seagrass habitats in ways that prompt a re-think of the reference state and management plans for seagrass meadows.

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Fig. 1: Green turtle grazing impact on seagrass seascapes.

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Acknowledgements

M.J.A.C. was funded by NWO-Veni grant 181002. R.A. was funded by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. T.A. was supported by the project UMBRAL CTM2017-86695-C3-3- R. J.F.P. was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 795315.

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M.J.A.C., M.M.v.K., B.I.v.T., R.A. and T.A. conceptualized, visualized and wrote the Comment (original draft, review and editing). J.F.P., K.B. and N.K. contributed to writing (review and editing).

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Correspondence to Marjolijn J. A. Christianen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Rod Connolly and Gema Hernan for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Christianen, M.J.A., van Katwijk, M.M., van Tussenbroek, B.I. et al. A dynamic view of seagrass meadows in the wake of successful green turtle conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 553–555 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01433-z

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